You may have heard of Ghee or Clarified butter before. Maybe you buy it from the store. It’s common in Indian Cuisine cooking. So let’s chat quickly about clarified butter and ghee. Ghee is a type of clarified butter. To make both you evaporate the water and milk solids in butter. Clarified butter is when the milk solids begin to sink, you stop the cooking process. Ghee takes it to the next step and browns the milk solids on the bottom, it has a slightly nutty flavor. Both do not contain the milk solids, it’s just butterfat. Those who are sensitive to lactose can usually tolerate ghee because the milk solids have been removed, eliminating lactose and casein. (keep in mind minimal traces of lactose may remain). Ghee can tolerate a high smoke point (up to 450 degrees) and is rich in flavor. It’s so much cheaper to make rather than buying. It has a long shelf life in the refrigerator so go ahead and make yourself a batch.
Homemade Ghee
Created by: Carmen Mbwana of @TableTalkwithCarmen
Ingredients:
1 lb Grass fed unsalted butter or Organic butter
Directions:
Place butter in a medium sauce pan and melt over medium low heat. You will notice foam begin to form on top, skim this off using a spoon. Eventually the bubbles on top will turn clear and you will notice bits drop to the bottom of the pan. Once the bits turn brown, TURN OFF the heat. The whole process should take around 25-30 minutes. Let cool, then strain using a sieve, strainer lined with a tea cloth or cheesecloth or strain through a nut milk bag. Store in a glass jar for up to 1 year in the refrigerator or Room temperature for a couple months. Yay, you just made ghee.
**Typically I use grass fed butter, this was photographed during a time when limited access to food was prevalent.